More "Open & Accountable" Governance!

In the meantime, Mr. Harper is expected to reiterate in next week's Speech from the Throne that he wants Canada to cast a longer shadow on the world stage, another in a line of prime ministers who ask more of diplomats while simultaneously cutting their resources. “There's this deep fury that the things required to do our job well are damn hard to get a hold of and, believe me, there's no thanks for doing it well,” said Christopher Westdal, a veteran diplomat who retired last year from the service. Said another department insider: “There is nothing worse than a scared, timid, reclusive, protective bureaucrat. It doesn't give you either good public policy or good service delivery.” Foreign Affairs employees still in the system, who spoke strictly on condition of anonymity, describe a locked-down environment where even the most innocuous briefings for the media are rejected. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071008.diplomats08/BNStory/National/home/ [Proofreader’s note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on October 9, 2007]

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